HIV-positive Truro teen denied bail on sex charges

A Halifax judge has denied bail to a Truro teenager charged with having unprotected sex with two girls who didn’t know he is HIV-positive.

A bail hearing was held Wednesday in youth court for the 18-year-old, who was a minor when he allegedly committed the aggravated sexual assaults in 2011 and 2012.

The young man also faces a charge of sexual interference because one of the alleged victims was only 13, as well as three counts of breaching a youth court sentence.

The evidence from the hearing was not banned from publication.

The court was told the teenager already has 20 criminal convictions on his record, for offences including assaults, uttering threats, impaired driving, theft and breaching various types of court orders.

He has domestic assault charges pending in adult court in Truro and is also being investigated for allegedly having unprotected sex with a young woman who is pregnant with his child.

Crown attorney Danielle Bastarache alleged that the accused denied having HIV after one of the girls heard rumours that he did, and that he boasted about his conduct in text messages to a friend.

Neither of the girls has tested positive for HIV so far, but they have to be monitored for up to 10 years, the prosecutor said.

“Just because they don’t have it now doesn’t mean they won’t have it a year from now,” she said.

Bastarache conceded that the young man’s viral count is reportedly low but said he had a legal obligation to disclose his health to his partners before they consented to sex.

“Any risk at all is a risk,” she said. “These young ladies should have had the opportunity to make that decision themselves.”

Defence lawyer Kai Glasgow said there are weaknesses in the Crown’s case.

He asked the judge to release his client on his own recognizance and allow him to live at a youth shelter in Halifax.

Judge Jamie Campbell said the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and has a right to reasonable bail, but other factors to be considered are protection of the public and the integrity of the administration of justice.

The teenager “has shown that he’s someone who does not feel that court orders are compelling for him,” Campbell said.

The judge said he was not satisfied that the defence’s release plan would reduce the likelihood that the teen would commit further offences while he awaits trial.

The accused has been in custody since he was arrested June 13 in Amherst on a bench warrant for failing to attend court in Truro on the domestic assault charges.

He pleaded guilty last week to a breach charge and was sentenced to 20 days at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

When he’s done serving that sentence, he’ll be transferred to the Nova Scotia Youth Facility in Waterville.